yawman



(No Model.)

M. R. JEWELL & P. YAWMAN. ROLLER BOOK SHELF.

No. 557,392 PatentedMar. 31,1896.

* i W. W

ANDREW BERMIANL PHOYOU'HOWASIIMGTOEEC.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

MAJOR ROMEYN JEWELL AND PHILIP H. YAlVMAN, OF ROCHESTER, NEW

YORK, ASSIGNORS TO THE OFFICE SPECIALTY MANUFACTURING COM- PANY, OF SAME PLACE.

ROLLER BOOK-SHELF.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 557,392, dated March 31, 1896. Application filed December 5 1891. Serial No. 414,104. (NolnodeL) T at whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, MAJOR RoMEYN JEW- ELL and PHILIP H. YAWMAN, of Rochester, in the county of Monroe and State of New York, have invented certain Improvements in Roller Book-Shelves, of which the following is a specification.

Our present invention has for its object to provide as a new article of manufacture a portable roller book-shelf-that is, a bookshelf which may be handled as an entirety and easily constructed, which shall possess strength, and be adapted to permit the ready application and removal of heavy books. To this end we construct our shelf with a strong self-sustaining metal frame having therein one or more horizontal rear rolls, and also having at the front a strong cross-bar extending continuously from one end to the other with two short exposed rolls supported in brackets secured to the front cross-bar.

In the drawing the figure represents a plan View of a shelf constructed in accordance with our invention.

This shelf is, in the present embodiment of our invention, composed of a bar a of iron or steel, the ends being bent back and connected by one or more suitable longitudinal strips or bars ct and 03, extending parallel with the front portion of bar a, these parts constituting a rigid frame. 4

E E indicate rollers journaled at the ends in the end pieces of the frame, so as to turn freely, and these rollers are adapted to support the books when laid on their sides upon said rollers.

Attached to the front of the front side of the bar a are two U-shaped brackets O having in their outwardly-extending ends short rollers O, the aggregate length of which is less than the length ofthe front bar, and said brackets and rollers are so positioned upon the front bar a as to leave a space or handhole between them, so that when a book rests upon the supporting-=rollers on its side, its back projecting pver the two short rolls O O, the operator may readily grasp said book and remove it.

The location of the rolls 0 0 forward of the front bar effectually prevents the marring of the covering of the book when it is applied to the shelf, and particularly is this the case when the shelf is supported at an elevation and the operator is obliged to reach up to insert the book.

These shelves may be applied to any suitable frame or case, being of course supported at the ends, and the brackets containing the rollers being each complete may be appliedat such distances apart on the front bar as will form the proper hand-hole or space between them to enable the book to be readily grasped and manipulated.

It is not essential that the precise form of the frame shown be employed as long as the roller-brackets are separate structures and may be applied to the front side of the front bar.

we claim as our invention As a new article of manufacture a portable book-shelf, consisting of a rigid frame having one or more rear rollers and a continuous bar across the front, from end to end, the U -shaped brackets containing rollers and attached to the front of said front bar, the said brackets being separated to permit the introduction of the hand between them.

In testimony whereof we hereunto set our hands this 1st day of October, 1890, in the presence of ,two attesting witnesses.

MAJOR ROMEYN JEWELL. PHILIP H. YAWMAN.

Witnesses:

ALBRECHT BUEDINGEN, LIBBIE A. WEBER. 

